Chapter Twenty Four – A Debt Paid
After reaching space Finn had immediately sent out a distress call to the fleet. Poe knew where they were going, but there was some chance he was going to prioritize getting the fleet massed together again, given the defeat of the First Order, over going straight to Naboo. The problem was that Finn was in a ship he was unfamiliar with, and the Resistance flagship had been destroyed, so he didn't know who to sent the distress call to. It took him long enough to realize that being in a First Order ship he could communicate with other First Order ships, including the First Order flagship Poe was presumably on, that he decided to never tell anyone about the delay.
By the time he got the communication system on the TIE working and got a signal to the First Order ship he learned that Poe was no longer on it, having transferred to the first Mon Calamari heavy cruiser to respond to his order recalling the fleet. This began a rather frustrating conversation with the Resistance officer placed in charge of the First Order ship.
"This is General Finn," he said, "and I need to talk to General Dameron."
"Well he's not here sir," the officer said.
"I know that," Finn said, trying to be patient. "I need you to connect me to him."
"He's just on the other ship sir," the officer said.
"Again, I understand that. What I am saying is that I need you to patch my call over to that other ship," Finn explained, and not for the first time.
"You could just call him yourself sir," the officer said after a pause.
"If I could, don't you think I would have by now?" Finn said, forcing himself not to yell.
"Well there's a problem sir," the officer said.
After waiting to hear what the problem was Finn asked, "What is the problem?"
"None of us know how to patch you through with these terminals. Nothing is marked normally," the officer admitted sheepishly.
Finn wanted to be angry, but seeing as he had the exact same problem preventing him from making the call to Poe directly he eventually just told the officer to use his personal communicator to tell Poe that he needed to get to Naboo as soon as he could, and to bring whatever firepower he had on hand.
After ending the frustrating call to the First order ship Finn waited for his fleet to show up. Unable to do anything but sit there the minutes seemed to stretch into hours and eventually Finn yelled, "Come on, come on. You need to get here now Poe!" to no one in particular. It was then that he first gave thought to what he would do when the fleet arrived. He was in an enemy ship and he was not sure that this information would have gotten through to Poe. He looked frantically around the cockpit in an attempt to figure out what had eluded him before, how to control the communication system beyond making the default ship to ship call preset into the system. The first button he pressed turned off the cabin lights, and he had some difficulty finding it again to turn them back on. The next called up the targeting computer display, and the third turned on a projector that showed the galactic map and his position on it. At last he hit a button which produced the sound of feedback. He held it down and said, " Ok good. Attention! I am not an enemy! This is Finn! Its Finn!" He repeated this message several times while waiting for the fleet to arrive.
When it did, Poe did not disappoint. Twenty Resistance ships, including several of their largest Mon Calamari cruisers jumped out of hyperspace, along with their attached fighter wings. Over the comm system Finn heard, "First Order fighter stand down and identify yourself!" from the lead ship.
Finn pressed the outgoing comm button again and yelled, "ITS ME! ITS FINN! Bring me in!"
The voice from the leader ship, much calmer now, answer, "Roger that general you are cleared for the starboard flight deck on the New Tython."
Finn looked uncertainly at the control panel for the ship and then responded sheepishly, "Um, let's just use the tractor beam. Please."
"Affirmative sir," the Resistance officer said.
Finn sat back and then a thought occurred to him. He got back on the comm system and said, "I need to speak with General Dameron immediately."
Sounds of shuffling came from the speakers and then Poe's voice said, "How you doing buddy? Where's the Falcon?"
"Poe, you gotta listen to me. Scan the surface for life signs," Finn said agitatedly.
"We aren't getting anything but interference down there," Poe replied.
"Dammit!" Finn yelled.
"What is it Finn?" Poe asked.
"Don't do anything until I get to the bridge!" Finn said in response.
Back in the Theed palace reactor hall Chewie slowly began to stir, despite the large wound in his side. He groaned as he tried and failed to push himself up. He tried to remember what had happened to him but couldn't. He growled during the successful second attempt to get himself standing. Once up, he looked around and then slowly limped towards the tunnel, cradling his right arm. He dragged himself painfully down into and through the tunnel and rested for a moment, breathing heavily and raggedly when he reached the other side. After a few minutes he set out again and eventually exited the palace into the cool Naboo night. He leaned against the walls of the palace, trying to catch his breath. His eyes fluttered and eventually shut. When they did he heard a voice say, "Chewie."
His eyes shot open, and he turned in the direction from which the sound seemed to have come, the direction of Padme's tomb. The message had been so brief and he had been, it seemed to him, on the edge of unconsciousness, but he nonetheless felt sure it was Han's voice that he had heard, that had woken him. So he set out again, pushing himself away from the wall with his good arm and making his way through the silent and empty city of ruins, half dragging his wounded leg behind him. By the time he reached the bridge he was absolutely exhausted, but by then he could smell him. Ben. The boy he had watched grow up. The boy he had loved like he was his own. The boy who had broken his heart and killed his friend. The boy who had come back and saved him. He could smell Rey too. He could even smell their blood and burnt skin. But they were not dead. That he knew. So he carried on, pushing himself beyond what reason could have led one to expect. To make himself move faster he had started using his good arm to push himself off the railing, half walking and half falling forward until he caught himself on the railing again so that he could start the process all over. As he reached the highpoint of the bridge his hand missed the railing and he collapsed. Finding he did not have the strength to get back up he started to crawl. He went several meters that way until, with a mighty roar, he angrily pushed himself up again. He thought about all the times Han had saved him and asked himself if this is how one repaid a debt, crawling around on one's hands and knees like a beast. He made his way slowly, but upright, towards the tomb.
On the bridge of the New Tython, the Mon Calamari cruiser that had recently been reclassified as the Resistance flagship, Poe and the other Resistance leaders waited for Finn. The doors had barely parted for him when Finn barked out, "What's the time?"
"What?" a confused Poe said.
"Somebody show me the time!" Finn commanded. When Rose showed him her watch he said quietly, almost to himself, "He said to give him an hour."
"Who said?" Poe asked.
"Kylo Ren. He said to give him an hour, and if he wasn't back with Rey, to hit the capital with everything the fleet has," Finn said with trepidation.
"Why?" a shocked Rose asked.
"It's Rey…something happened to her. I don't know what, but she isn't herself. Ren said he would try to save her, but that if he couldn't the whole city had to go," Finn said.
"What happened to Rey?" Poe asked, trying to get a handle on the situation.
"I'm not sure. There is something dark down there. On the flight here Ren said it was Palpatine. That Palpatine was Snoke. That he took over Snoke's body. I think…I think he did the same thing to Rey," Finn said.
Poe and Rose exchanged worried looks, as do the rest of the bridge crew with one another.
"How long has it been Finn?" Poe asked gravely.
"It's been…," Finn said before pausing, taking a deep breath and continuing, "let's just give him a little more time."
"How long Finn?" Poe repeated.
"It's been a little over…an hour," Finn said.
Poe, Finn and Rose looked out the window towards the surface of Naboo. Poe shook his head and said, "Palpatine? The Emperor. The dead guy? It's been him all along?"
"That's what he said. Maybe that's why Ren killed Snoke," Finn said.
"If it's Palpatine, Finn," Poe said while looking sadly at his friend, not wanting to say what he knew to be correct.
"Say that's true," Rose interrupted. "What can he do from down there?"
"If its him, if it's really been him, this whole time, then he has had 30 years to make plans, to make preparations, and all the resources of the First order at his disposal to do it. In half that time they turned Ilum into Starkiller base. They could have surface to space defensive systems down there that could wipe out an entire fleet. Who knows what other resources he could have around the galaxy?" Poe said. He turned back to Finn and the two looked at each other without saying anything, both knowing what had to be done.
Finally Finn said, "I know."
Poe looked down again at Naboo and shook his head again. "Ten more minutes," he said. "Rey's earned that at least. We give them ten more minutes." He turned to the bridge crew and said, "Deploy the fleet. Take up positions to bombard Theed."
On the surface of Naboo Chewbacca entered the tomb, and, finding Rey and Ben still unconscious on the floor, let loose a long mournful wail. He went first to Rey to check for signs of life, and having found her breathing, moved to Ben, doing the same. Once he was confident they were both still alive he started thinking about how best to get them onto the ship. He considered going back to the Falcon and flying it closer to their location, but he had not seen a spot to put the ship down that was much closer than the plaza itself. There was too much rubble everywhere. He knew the fleet had smaller ships that could land on the bridge to the island, but he knew he would need to check the bridge first to make sure it was able to handle the load. When he walked out of the tomb to inspect the bridge he could see the Resistance fleet high above him. He watched the ships, waiting to one of the frigates, or perhaps a smaller troop transport docked on one of the Mon Calamari ships, fly down to them. The pain in his side was such that he sat down to do it. He was so weary that he had to fight against falling asleep again, shaking his head from time to time. As he did so he wondered where Finn had gotten off to, and what had happened in the reactor hall. He dimly remembered seeing Rey there, but could not piece together what had happened next.
"Run!" came Han's voice again, and Chewie bolted awake. It had not just been the voice this time. He had seen an image of fire raining down from the fleet; a general bombardment. He stood up as quickly as he could, having to awkwardly push himself up with only one good arm and one good leg. He did not know why the fleet would attack, but it had been his friend's voice, and for a reason he could neither express nor doubt, Chewie felt sure he could trust it. He went back in the tomb. When he saw Rey again he remembered what had happened in the reactor hall. She had attacked Finn, and he had gotten in the way. Was Finn dead, he wondered for a moment. Then he remembered that the TIE Rey had flown here was gone. Finn must be in that, he thought. He remembered now too what Ben had told him in the Falcon on the way there, about how the Emperor could possess people, had been doing it since the battle at Endor. He looked at Rey and Ben, both alive, but neither seeming likely to wake up anytime soon. He picked Ben up quickly and hoisted him onto the shoulder on his good side. He tried to pick Rey up with his bad arm, hoping that he could still do it, given how small she was, but his injured arm turned out to be even more useless than he had thought.
He put Ben back down and looked down at the two of them. The thought crossed his mind that he couldn't take them both, and would have to choose. The thought also crossed his mind that he might not have time to make it to the Falcon if he was trying to carry them along. He had barely gotten to the tomb in the first place. These thoughts were quickly brushed aside. They were the kinds of thoughts which occurred naturally to a survivor like Chewbacca, and also the kind that he had spent his life disdaining. His life had been governed by some fairly straightforward rules, including loyalty to friends and kind and offering second chances, and he wasn't going to change now. Both the humans before him had done bad things, but then again, so had he. What mattered was that Rey, no matter what had happened to her on this planet, was his friend. As for Ben, well, he knew he could not leave Han and Leia's son there.
He gave the problem a bit of thought and decided on a solution. He pulled the two of them near each other and puts Rey's left hand inside Ben's right, clasping the two of them together with his huge paw. Then he turned and started to drag them out of the tomb.
In the cavern beneath the palace the pyramids atop the four pillars, which had been dark, began to glow with the same red light that had found its way into Rey. Quickly energy began to arc between them. These presence of this power seemed to automatically trigger certain mechanical systems in the cavern. Machines came alive, and droids appeared from the darkness. Anakin watched as one of the shriveled old men was pulled by a droid from his cell towards the pillars. Merely a spirit, Anakin was unable to do anything about this, but he knew his moment for actions would arrive soon.
On the bridge of the New Tython a Resistance officer sitting at her station called out to Poe, "General! We are picking up something through the interference."
"What is it?" an anxious Poe asked.
Rose walked over to the officer's station to take a look at the scanner data. "It looks like an energy spike. All around the area of Theed. Hard to say what its powering. But the spike would have to be pretty big to get through that interference," she said.
"Maybe send a fighter down there to get a look. I flew down and back up," Finn said.
"For all we know the power surge is turning on defensive shields, and any ship we send down there could crash into it. I can't ask someone to take that risk," Poe said.
"Poe please. Just a little more time," Finn begged.
"You gotta give me a reason Finn. He said an hour. And hour has come and gone. And this power surge. This is what he was worried about. He knows them, and how they operate. Better than we do. And he said to do it," Poe said.
"I don't have proof. It's just a feeling. If we give them time, he'll bring her home," Finn said.
Poe looked down at the planet. "I have a responsibility to this fleet. A responsibility Leia gave me. I can't place everyone else in the fleet, in the galaxy, at risk. Not even for Rey and Chewie," Poe said sadly but firmly.
"Then…how about you just target the source of the power? There was a big reactor down there. That has to be what is providing the power. See if you can knock it out before we vaporize the whole city," Finn suggested.
Without looking away from the window, Poe nodded. Rose, seeing him do so, began punching directions into the computer. Finn joined Poe at the window without saying a word, and put a hand on his shoulder. He stayed back though, as he knew Poe would not want anyone to see his tears.
Back on the surface Chewie had managed to pull Ben and Rey all the way across the bridge and had made it to the outskirts of the plaza. Seeing the droids at the base of the ramp to the Falcon he roared as loud as he could, which, given the searing agony of the cut in his back, was quite loud.
"Right away Chewbacca. R2, get the Falcon ready to launch," C-3PO said to R2, who had already begun to roll up the ramp without needing to be told.
A few seconds later, the bombardment began, focused on the hangar bay in the distance. The Falcon was far enough away to avoid being hit, but not so far away that it could avoid the debris ejected from the impact site. Neither could Chewie, who had to use his injured arm block several large pieces of earth from hitting him. But still he carried on, moving as fast as his one good leg would take him. By the time he reached the Falcon the bombardment had already destroyed the hangar bay, but Chewie could see that that a force field had been built around the reactor hall, which now seemed to be operating at full power. Knowing what the fleet would do next when they realized this was the case, he pushed as hard as he could to get them up the ramp, dropping their arms as soon as he got into the ship. He then collapsed to his hands and knees, sucking in huge gulps of air. He turned his head towards he cockpit to yell something.
In the cockpit R2, hooked into the Falcon, beeped out his response. C-3PO, standing in the doorway of the cockpit yelled, "Chewbacca! Chewbacca!"
A second later Chewie, leaning against the bulkhead, appeared in the door way, while letting loose a few frustrated yells. He hit the wall of the cockpit where Han used to get the ship to turn on but nothing happened.
"R2 says it's the fuel line. The shaking from the bombardment has caused it to become misaligned," C-3PO said frantically.
In response Chewie slumped and was still for a second. Then he turned around and headed past the still unconscious Ben and Rey. He picked up Han's old toolbox and headed down the ramp and out of the ship, yelling something at C-3PO on his way.
"Are you sure?" a surprised C-3PO asked. Chewie yelled back his confirmation.
Exiting the Falcon, Chewie could see that the bombardment had increased in severity thought it was still focused on the spot where the hangar bay had been. He could also see it was all still to no effect; the shield around the reactor hall held. The air was thick with dirt and pulverized materials from the buildings that had been destroyed. Still Chewie made his way to the back of the ship and put his toolbox down. As he did so he saw the ground under Theed Palace give way and fall into the lake below, taking the palace with it. Chewie grunted and got to work.
Back on the bridge of the New Tython Rose was telling Poe, "We've hit where the old maps say the reactor is, but we are still reading the power spike. Either the power source is further down or they've got the reactor shielded or both."
"So what do we do?" Finn asked. Rose shrugged her shoulders.
"What we normally do against shielded targets," Poe said grimly. "We destabilize the ground around it, breaking the power or fuel transmission lines."
"That will kill everyone in the city," Finn said harshly.
"I know, I'm sorry," Poe said. Turning to Rose he ordered, "Instruct the other ships to begin a general bombardment of the city, on my mark." After saying this Poe walked towards the captain's chair and sat down, putting his head in his hands. Finn shook his head as he watched the blaster bolts flash towards the planet below.
Back on the surface, Chewie's good hand was moving furiously, trying to reorient the fuel line. He withdrew his tool and closed the panel. Inside the Falcon cockpit the ship powers up. R2 chirped harshly at C-3PO who responded, "It is what he said R2!" R2-D2 buzzed angrily and did nothing. There were explosions all around the city now, some close enough to the Falcon that the cockpit window was covered with dirt.
Outside the Falcon, Chewie yelled as he shuffled towards the ramp. As he moved the ground gave way beneath him, a huge slab of pavement covered soil breaking away and tipping down, as the cityscape behind Chewbacca fell into the lake below. With his good arm Chewbacca grabbed on to an stone sticking out from the section of the plaza that the Falcon had been sitting upon only a few seconds before, but which was not pointed diagonally down into the smoking abyss that was swiftly swallowing the city of Theed. Above Chewie's head the Falcon, its rear landing gear now dangling in the air, began to tip backwards. Chewbacca screamed at the top of his lungs for the droids to take off.
Back in the cockpit, C-3PO fell backwards against the doorframe of the cockpit as the ship listed and yelled, "Now R2, now!" Finally giving in R2's interface arm spun. As Chewie held on he saw the Falcon lift up off the now crumbling ground as its ramp lifted up and its landing gear retracted. He watched silently as the ship which had been his home for so long flew up and away, taking his friends to safety as it had done for him so many times. As the slab of rock he was holding on to began to slide downward Chewbacca closed his eyes. The last thing he heard was his best friend's voice. "Thanks pal," Han said.
In the cockpit of the Falcon, C-3PO looked back towards the now closing door to the ramp and bowed his head as he listened to R2's mournful moan.
The cavern beneath was shaking from the force of the bombardment. Pieces of the cavern roof had begun to break off and fall to the floor. The old man being held in place by the droids looked around, completely uncomprehending of what was happening, and terrified. As Anakin looked on the red energy between the pillars began to coalesce, and the image of Palpatine began to emerge from the chaotic swirl. The still indistinct figure began to move towards the old man being restrained by the droids, who began to scream at its approach. But then, before Palpatine could reach the man, his last means of escape, the red figure was stopped in its tracks. The spirit of Palpatine looked up to see the ghost of Anakin Skywalker standing above him, hand outstretched. He could not do anything to the droids, and he had failed to get the old man to leave on his own accord, but the dark side energy of which Palpatine's spirit was composed, that Anakin could interact with.
As he held the Sith Lord's shade in place he looked down at him and said, "Now, your failure is complete." Anakin paid neither Palpatine's anguished shrieks nor his absurd, plaintive begging any mind. He simply looked up at the roof of the cavern as it started to break apart. He held his former master there, preventing him from taking the body of the old man in front of him. Palpatine pushed with all the strength his malignant spirit still had, but to no avail. Before the might of the Chosen One his struggles were as nothing. As larger and larger pieces of stone began to fall, crushing the machines on which they landed, Anakin turned towards Palpatine and smiled. And so it was that Anakin Skywalker's smiling face was the last thing Darth Sidious ever saw, for he was unable to hold his own spirit together without the aid of the Sith devices contained within the pyramidal tops to the pillars, which were soon crushed and buried beneath the falling stone.
On the bridge of the New Tython the crew stood silently and watched as the bombardment continued.
"The power spike is gone General Dameron," one of the officers said.
Poe nodded slowly and said, "Cease fire." Finn fell to the floor and covered his eyes. Poe got up from his seat and walked over to comfort his friend when, from behind him, Rose called out, "Poe, I have the Falcon on scanners!"
"Yes!" Poe yelled out with joy.
"Life signs?" a more hesitant Finn asked.
Rose looked at the screen, a worried look on her face. She looked up at Finn and said, "Just two."
"I want to talk to them!" Poe said quickly.
Rose complied and after a short beep, Poe said, "Millennium Falcon, do you read me?"
After a second's wait a subdued C-3PO said, "Hello General Dameron."
"I have never been happier to hear your voice 3-PO!" Poe said excitedly. "What's your situation? What do ya need?"
"Sir, I am very sad to report…" C-3PO started to say. None of the crew of the New Tython would be able to remember the words C-3PO used that day, but none would forget what he told them.